Dietary Sucrose Determines Stress Resistance, Oxidative Damages, and Antioxidant Defense System in Drosophila

Abstract

Varied nutritional interventions affect lifespan and metabolic health. Abundant experimental evidence indicates that the carbohydrate restriction in the diet induces changes to support long-lived phenotypes. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are among the main mechanisms that mediate the effect of nutrient consumption on the aging process. Here, we tested the influence of sucrose concentration in the diet on stress resistance, antioxidant defense systems, and oxidative stress markers in D. melanogaster. We found that high sucrose concentration in the fly medium leads to enhanced resistance to starvation, oxidative, heat, and cold stresses. However, flies that were raised on low sucrose food displayed increased levels of low-molecular-mass thiols, lipid peroxides in females, and higher activity of antioxidant enzymes, indicating that the consumption of a low carbohydrate diet could induce oxidative stress in the fruit fly. We found that the consumption of sucrose-enriched diet increased protein carbonyl level, which may indicate about the activation of glycation processes. The results highlight a strong dependence of oxidative metabolism in D. melanogaster from dietary carbohydrates.

DIETS: a simple and sensitive assay to measure and control the intake of complex solid foods, like high-fat diets, inDrosophila

“…Foods with higher carbohydrate content (or lower P: C ratio) show increased bodily lipid content and increased SR (Lee and Jang 2014). As mentioned above, other studies on HSD and subsequent SR support the same idea (van Dam et al 2020; Chandegra et al 2017; Lee and Jang 2014; Strilbytska et al 2022). We tested SR in OreR flies after a week-long exposure to isocaloric HSD and sHFD.…”

“…Chronic consumption of diets rich in sugar improves starvation resistance (SR) in female flies, likely due to increased bodily fat deposits (van Dam et al 2020; Chandegra et al 2017; Lee and Jang 2014; Strilbytska et al 2022; Baldal, Brakefield, and Zwaan 2006; Ballard, Melvin, and Simpson 2008). However, although sHFDs increase body fat deposits (Fig.…”

Dietary restriction fails to extend lifespan of Drosophila model of Werner syndrome

“…Elevated resistance against environmental stress is often associated with increased lifespan. While age functions as a confounding variable impacting stress resistance ( Burger et al 2007 ), the composition of diets, including yeast and sugar concentration, significantly affect the stress resistance of flies ( Burger et al 2007 ; Katewa et al 2012 ; Strilbytska et al 2021 , 2022 ). For example, yeast-restriction DR increases survival during starvation stress, partly due to elevated lipid content (synthesized via lipogenesis) and enhanced utilization (broken down through lipolysis) ( Katewa et al 2012 ).…”

Dietary Restriction Fails to Extend Lifespan ofDrosophilaModel of Werner Syndrome

“…While age functions as a confounding variable impacting stress resistance [48], the composition of diets, including yeast and sugar concentration, significantly affect the stress resistance of flies [25,[48][49][50]. For example, yeast-restriction DR increases survival during starvation stress, partly due to elevated lipid content (synthesized via lipogenesis) and enhanced utilization (broken down through lipolysis) [24].…”